The MTA board has unanimously voted to hike subway and bus fares to buoy the cash-strapped agency, making it the third time in three years that New Yorkers will have to pay more to commute.

The board voted Wednesday to raise tickets for a single bus or subway ride by 25 cents to $2.50. A monthly MetroCard pass will cost $112, up nearly 8 percent from the previous price of $104. The increases are scheduled to take effect March 1.

Bridge tolls on several major crossings will increase by 50 cents for EZPass users and by $1 for drivers who pay cash. A discount is expected to be implemented for Staten Island residents.

The increases are expected to bring in an additional $450 million a year for the MTA, which was struggling to close its budget deficit even before Sandy caused $5 billion in damage to the system.

Board member Andrew Albert called the hike “the best of a bad lot” of options.

Several board members expressed reluctance to support the fare hikes, but voted in favor of them.

He was widely praised for quickly getting the transit system back on track following unprecedented devastation from Sandy and had previously been endorsed as a possible candidate by former mayor Rudy Giuliani. A registered Republican, Lhota served as Giuliani’s budget director, finance commissioner and deputy mayor for operations before moving to the private sector.

Thanks to all the fare hikes my neighbor who has a bicycle store told me that his business is booming. He was never so busy as recently, he sells more bikes in one week then he used to sell in a month. Now with another hike he thinks he will have to rent a bigger place to accommodate the large volume of customers. So more people will switch from mass transit to bikes. But for me it is a problem because I drive a car and see more and more bike riders on the street and they are careless when riding between cars.